Social Psychology
I.
Social Perception
A. Do we really know the people we think we know?
1. We make assumptions and form impressions
2. Called attributions
B. Attribution Theory
1. When explaining ourselves or others we usea. dispositional attributions
-internal causes, part of a person
who they are
b. situational attributions
-external causes, out of our control or
caused by situation
2. Fundamental attribution error
a. we tend to overestimate dispositional factors in
others
b. overestimate situational factors in ourselves
3. Societal implications
a. deeply effects our schema
-our mental framework for
categorizing people
b. how stereotypes are formed
II. Prejudice
A. Mix of beliefs (stereotypes), emotions (hostility, envy,
usually fear), and actions (discrimination)
B. We tend to be implicitly prejudiced
1. Whites tend make implicit racial associations
-we more quickly associate negative terms with
minority faces; cross-race effect
2. We tend to unconsciously patronize
3. Black faces look more criminal to people “Why?”
C. Social roots of prejudice
1. Social inequalities
a. Our society’s inequality has made prejudice
easier
b. called Blame-the-Victim
2. Ingroups v. Outgroups
a. Ingroup is the group I identify with
b. Outgroup is everyone not in my group
-most hostile to those most like me
c. Ingroup bias
-us v. them favoritism
D. Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
1. Categorization
a. We like to put people into categories
-leads to stereotyping
b. We overestimate “others” similarities
2. Vivid Cases
-Representativeness Heuristic (rule of thumb)
3. Just-World Phenomenon
- “people get what they deserve”
E. Attitudes
1. Feelings, influenced by our beliefs, that make us
behave/react in certain ways
a. Persuasion- getting people to change attitudes
i. central route persuasion
-how we persuade educated people
ii. peripheral route persuasion
-how we persuade the uneducated
2. Attitude follows the behavior (Compliance)
a. foot-in-the-door phenomenon
-when people agree to small
request, later more apt to
agree to large one
b. other compliance techniques
-door-in-the-face
-reciprocity
-justification
-that’s-not-all
B. Roles effect our attitudes and behaviors
1. What roles do you play everyday?
-how does your behavior change in each?
2. Abu Ghraib
3. Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
-we get caught up in and confused
by our roles
C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
1. We bring our attitudes in line with each other
2. Define term
a. Cognitive = our thoughts/attitudes
b. Dissonance = discomfort
3. We do not like discomfort when our thoughts don’t
jive with each other soa. we either change our ways (not likely)
b. gather evidence to support our attitudes
4. Basically, we lie to ourselves to make ourselves
feel better (it works)
III. Aggression
A. Definition
-any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt
or destroy
B. What makes us aggressive?
1. Genetics- identical twins tend to share temper
2. Brain’s limbic system (hypothalamus & amygdala)
3. Less frontal lobe activity
4. Biochemicals
-violent men tend to have below average
intelligence, low serotonin, high
testosterone
-alcohol unleashes aggression
C. How about psychological or cultural reasons?
1. Frustration-aggression principle
2. Aversive stimuli cause discomfort & aggression
-heat, smells, words…
3. Ostracism- being left out or socially excluded
4. Fatherless males 2x more likely to go to jail
5. Cultural or family traditions
6. Sexually coercive models in media
-much casual sex on TV/movies
8. Too much TV & video games, porn?
9. Inappropriate social scripts provided by media
IV. Social/Group Influence
A. Conformity
1. Bringing one’s behavior in line with the group
2. Is it necessary?
a. to live comfortably
b. most of us belong to some group
3. Asch’s Conformity study
a. 75% conform at least 1/3 of the time
b. reasons-if we feel inferior
-group at least 3 people
-group unanimous
-you admire group
-you have not committed a response
-group is watching
-your culture values group
A lone dockworker refuses to raise his hand in the Nazi salute, 1936 August
Landmesser was a worker at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in
Hamburg,Germany, and is best known for his appearance in a photograph
refusing to perform the Nazi salute at the launch of the naval training vessel
HorstWessel on 13 June, 1936. He had been a Nazi Party member from 1931
to 1935, but after fathering children with a Jewish woman, he had been found
guilty of “dishonoring the race”
4. What happens if we do not conform?
a. normative social influence
-people want approval
b. informational social influence
-conform to get something from group
c. these are called group sanctions
-we are rewarded for conforming
-outcast if we do not
B. Obedience
1. Stanley Milgram’s famous Obedience Study
a. Normal humans generally obey even the
most heinous orders
b. certain key conditions
-person giving order is legit
-authority has prestige
-victim depersonalized
-no role model for defiance
2. When obedience and kindness collide
obedience usually wins
V. Attraction
A. What makes us pick our friends and “lovers”
1. Proximity
-mere exposure effect: the more we see a
person the more we like them
2. Physical attractiveness
a. good looking people do get more breaks
b. but looks not related to self-esteem
-good looking people do not trust
others motives for praise
c. if we like a person’s personality we tend
to see them as more attractive
3. Similarity
a. opposites DO NOT attract
b. being similar may not seem romantic but
it is enduring
B. Romantic Love (2 types)
1. Passionate Love
a. connected to physical arousal
-before meeting the other person
b. Famous Dutton and Aron study: pretty people
get more help
2. Companionate Love
a. deep, affectionate attachment
b. what is left after the passion goes away
c. Keys are-equity: the relationship must give
and take equally
-self disclosure: being able to share
one’s feelings, likes, dreams, etc….
VI. Doing Good (Altruism)
A. Bystander Intervention
1. Kitty Genovese Case
a. diffusion of responsibility
-the more people the less likely to act
-called bystander effect
B. Norms of Helping
1. Social Exchange theory
a. the benefits of doing good must outweigh the costs
b. same thing with having/keeping friends
c. reciprocity norm
-we feel like we are supposed to return help
d. social-responsibility norm
-we have a duty to help those in need
C. How do we improve relationships?
1. Contact
2. Cooperation
1. Having super-ordinate goals (goals shared
by all in a large group)
a. Overrides differences
b. Creates common goals & values
VIII. Conflict and Peacemaking
A. What is conflict?
- a perceived incompatibly of actions, goals, or ideas
- conflict is almost always a destructive process
where no one wins.
B. Social Traps
- A situation where the parties of a conflict become
caught in destructive behavior by pursuing their
own interests.
1. Prisoner’s Dilemma
2. Mirror-image perceptions
a. mutual views often held by conflicting people,
where each side sees themselves as peaceful
and ethical and sees the other side as evil and
aggressive
b. people in conflict tend to see their actions as
reactions to provocation
c. people easily forget the part they have played in
conflict while in the midst of it.
VII. Groups
A. The influence of the group on our behavior
1. Social facilitation (performing alone)
a. our performance when in a group
-we improve if we are skilled
-we perform poorly if we are not
b. home team wins more than visitors
2. Social Loafing
-many people tend to give less than full
effort when doing same task together
3. Deindividuation
-when in a group we become anonymous &
lose restraint
Social Loafing
B. Group Polarization
1. Group differences tend to grow with time
a. we discuss ideas with likeminded people
b. even just discussing issues makes us
more firmly entrenched
2. Cable TV, Internet blogs, Gated communities
enhance this
-Dem v. Rep., Liberal v. Cons., Pro Life v.
Pro Choice, Playstation v. Wii
C. Groupthink (Irving Janis)
1. Compulsion of decision makers to seek each
other’s approval w/out weighing options
-blamed for many political blunders
2. Avoid bya. welcome dissent
b. leader never lets on what he/she wants
c. appoint devil’s advocate
C. Groupthink (Irving Janis)
1. Compulsion of decision makers to seek each
other’s approval w/out weighing options
-blamed for many political blunders
2. Avoid bya. welcome dissent
b. leader never lets on what he/she wants
c. appoint devil’s advocate